


1000 Kisses

by amiraculousladybug



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Fluff, Future, Lots of kissing, No Spoilers, Not Season/Series 02 Compliant, Season/Series 01 Compliant, Tumblr Prompt, because akumas, no identity reveal, not yet anyway...
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-31
Updated: 2017-12-13
Packaged: 2018-05-17 10:47:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5866444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amiraculousladybug/pseuds/amiraculousladybug
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"The first time she kissed Chat Noir was on her twentieth birthday."<br/>With high school graduation over and college underway, Marinette has decided it's time to let go of her crush on Adrien and move on. A certain cat is there for her when she does. If she thinks about it, he's been waiting all along.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Kiss

**Author's Note:**

> Self-indulgent Ladynoir kisses ahead. This fic is probably going to be pretty long in terms of numbers of parts. I want to drag out the reveal for this one. Rating might change from G to T later.

The first time she kissed Chat Noir was on her twentieth birthday.

Of course, technically their first kiss had been years ago, during the Dislocoeur incident, but she refused to count that. That kiss had been out of necessity, without any enjoyment for either party. Nor did she count accidental kisses, which had happened on a couple of occasions.

No, this was the first time she kissed him voluntarily. This was their first _real_ kiss.

If anyone had told Marinette at age fifteen that in five years she would be kissing Chat Noir, she would have laughed in their face. She could never have imagined kissing anyone other than Adrien. But time had a way of changing people's minds, and Marinette was no exception. Sure, she and Adrien had grown closer over the years, but it had never progressed beyond friendship. Part of her had recognized after a couple years of knowing him that he simply didn't feel the same way about her as she did about him. And when they had graduated high school, Marinette had decided it was time she tried to move on.

It had been difficult at first. Moving on from a crush she'd had for four years was like tearing duct tape off her arm. She still occasionally found herself thinking about him, wondering what he was doing or where he was.

It was a process. She was getting better. Better at not thinking of him, better at turning her mind to other subjects, better at not comparing every single boy she met to Adrien Agreste. It had gotten a little easier once she'd started college—she was so busy with her classes that she had very little free time in which her mind could wander to thoughts of a high school crush, and Adrien was at another university entirely, an expensive private one his father had allegedly hand-picked. Her moments of weakness were few and far between.

Chat Noir had never wavered. He still called her his lady, still treated her with the same blend of respect and protectiveness he always had. When she had finally taken her eyes off Adrien, he was there, ever hopeful. She had started flirting back with him only recently, having decided she was ready to try for a relationship with someone other than Adrien. At first her new response to his flirtation had surprised him, and he had even asked on the first occasion if she was feeling well. But soon he had realized her romantic interest had shifted in his favor, and their interactions outside of battle had morphed into an almost-relationship: little touches here and there, a glance, a smile, warm embraces that lasted a little longer than they had to. He hadn't pressured her for anything more.

She had decided she was ready for more.

When they went to say their goodnights after patrol, she took his hands in hers. “Chat, I … we've been partners for a long time now …”

Chat tilted his head to one side, and she could see confusion and a flash of concern in his eyes. He thought she had bad news for him, she could tell. “Yeah, we have.”

She took a deep breath and tried to calm the hammering beat of her heart. “I'm grateful that it's you. I couldn't ask for better.”

Chat's head tilted further, the concern in his eyes more pronounced now. “But …?”

She smiled to reassure him. “But I think it's time we were more than just partners, kitty,” she finished.

The concern on his face was replaced with a burst of hope. “You mean … my lady, you …?”

She nodded.

Chat let out a whoop of happiness, scooping her up in his arms and spinning her around. His hands lingered on her waist when he set her back down. “You're sure? You're really sure?” A giddy smile had plastered itself on his face; he obviously had no genuine worries about her teasing him or lying about this.

She nodded again, grinning—his delight was infectious. “I'm sure,” she promised. The words were scarcely out of her mouth when Chat pulled her into a crushing embrace. She half-expected him to lift her up and spin her around a second time, he seemed so happy, but instead he simply buried his face in her shoulder. She rested her head atop his and relished in the feeling of being in his arms. It was a warm, safe, cozy feeling, like being wrapped up in a blanket indoors during a rainstorm or wearing a favorite hoodie on a chilly day. Part of her was tempted to let both of them stay here like this for the rest of the night, but the rational part of her brain knew that she wouldn't be very happy with herself tomorrow morning if she did.

Chat murmured something, his face still nestled against her shoulder, his breath warm on her collarbone and sending a light, pleasant shiver through her. She ran her fingers through his hair and tilted her head to try to hear him better. “What was that, kitty?”

He lifted his head to meet her gaze. There was a softness in his eyes, but also something burning and passionate that set her heart racing. He looked both vulnerable and confident at once as he answered, “I said I love you, my lady.”

Ladybug bit her lip, her cheeks flushing. She'd known. She always had known, at the back of her mind, though for years she had tried her best to ignore it. It had been obvious in his expressions, in his words, and in his actions. At the time it had terrified her, made her uncomfortable. She hadn't wanted a love with someone like Chat. She'd wanted a fairy tale romance that would sweep her off her feet, that would make her feel like a princess whose happy ending had come true. She'd wanted that giddy feeling she had gotten around Adrien. But time had proven that those warm fuzzy feelings weren't the right thing to build a lasting relationship around. She had started looking for trust, for friendship, for someone who would be there through the best and the worst no matter what. And when she had finally taken her eyes off of Adrien, she had found it in Chat.

Funny how the things you really wanted were the things that had been with you all along.

“I love you too,” she murmured.

They reached for one another almost in tandem, Chat circling his arms tighter around her waist as she cupped his face in her hands. Then, wordlessly, they closed the remaining space between them. The kiss started slowly, both of them a little shy and inexperienced, feeling their way through a first kiss together. Once they had grown more comfortable, it became more heated, each encouraging the other with gentle caresses and quiet murmurs. Chat slid one hand up her back to thread his fingers through her hair, pulling her closer; she adjusted her position to allow him more easily to deepen the kiss. It wasn't the starstruck life-changing event that romance novels made it out to be, but it was real and warm and precious in its own way, and that was even better. When they finally pulled away, flushed and a little short of breath, there was a moment of intimate silence. Chat's touch lingered as he released her, brushing along the side of her waist lightly. She let her fingers follow the lines of his jaw as she lowered her hands from his face.

“We should probably call it a night,” Chat remarked quietly. He reached over to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Probably,” she agreed, although calling it a night was the last thing she wanted to do now.

Chat seemed to notice her reluctance; he gave her a crooked but affectionate grin and kissed her cheek. “Good night, my lady. I'll see you tomorrow.”

“Good night,” she echoed, kissing him back.

Tomorrow, Marinette would wake up late for class and end up falling asleep in her afternoon lecture, but it was worth it for dreams of green eyes and loving kisses.

 


	2. I-Almost-Lost-You Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that they're finally in a relationship, Chat Noir is more protective of his lady than ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a personal theory that akuma's weapons would be able to harm Ladybug and Chat Noir even with their supersuits' protection (otherwise what would have been the point of Antibug's freaking death blade in the latest French episode?). Also I hate writing fight scenes but this particular kiss prompt was a request from a follower on Tumblr, so...here is a fight scene anyway.

There were pros and cons to being in a relationship with one's superhero partner, Ladybug had discovered.

The relationship wasn't hard to maintain. It was built on mutual trust and respect, and they had yet to get in a serious fight with one another. But there were a couple of negatives. The first was that Chat Noir, who had dropped the topic of revealing identities years ago, now brought the matter back up, and brought it up often. The second was that he became more protective than ever when it came to fighting akuma.

Take tonight, for instance.

They had been on patrol, swapping banter and playful flirtations, when there had been the crack of a gunshot and a scream from below. Immediately jumping into action, they had found themselves face-to-face with an akuma calling himself Marksman. No sooner had they landed on the ground than he opened fire on them, the gunfire loud and sharp in the otherwise silent street. Ladybug barely managed to shield herself with her yo-yo in time to avoid the bullets.

Seeing his open fire tactic was failing, the akuma fled the street. Ladybug started after him, but was pulled up short by a hand seizing her arm. Chat. She repressed a noise of frustration as she turned to look at him. “Chat, he's getting away! What is it?”

“Are you all right?” Chat pressed. His grip on her arm would have been painful if it weren't for the supernatural protection offered by her suit. “You're not hurt, are you?”

“I'm fine,” she promised, pulling her arm out of his hold with an effort. “Now come _on_ , we have to catch him! This akuma is dangerous!” This time, when she gave chase, Chat followed, albeit reluctantly.

“My lady, I would prefer it if you let me fight this guy,” he said as they ran. “I don't want him to hurt you.”

She had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. “I'm the only one of the two of us who can purify the akuma. I have to fight him.”

“Can't you let me handle it until we can get the akuma away from him?” Chat pleaded.

Ladybug clenched her jaw and reminded herself that he was just trying to keep her safe. “It'll be safer for both of us if we fight him together. He can't shoot at two people at once.”

“But—”

“No, Chat.”

He fell silent then, and remained so even after they had caught up to Marksman. She hoped that didn't mean he was angry with her. Then she promptly shoved her personal matters to the back of her mind and focused on the battle at hand. They couldn't defeat the akuma if she was distracted.

For all his hopes to keep her out of the fight this time, Chat still backed her up as he always did, reading her movements and protecting her from stray gunfire as she went head-to-head with Marksman. Despite her resolve to focus on the fight, she felt her heart swell with happiness. Not even frustration with her refusal to stay out of harm's way could change the way Chat supported her in battle.

And then, just as they were coming in for the finishing blow, Marksman fired a shot that made Chat's legs crumple beneath him, and her partner dropped to the ground with a sickening thud. He let out a weak cry of pain and tried to stand, but collapsed again, unable to support his own weight.

“Chat!” Ladybug halted and turned halfway round to run back to her partner.

His eyes lit with panic. “My lady!” he screamed in warning. His voice was ragged, terrified, torn from his throat in desperation. Something whistled just below her ear then, and a starburst of pain exploded across her cheek along the jawline. Ladybug realized with a thrill of horror that Marksman was attempting to shoot her Miraculous off, and the bottom portion of her ear with it. She whirled back around to face the akuma, throwing up her yo-yo as a shield once more.

“You're going to regret missing,” she promised. “Lucky Charm!”

The item, a small cap, fell into her hands just as there was the sound of another gunshot and then a heavy thud and a grunt. Something grazed the side of her waist with another burst of pain. Wincing, she looked and saw Marksman had been knocked to the ground by Chat's baton, his gun on the pavement a few steps away. Even injured, Chat was looking out for her, she thought with a smile. She hurried to snatch up the gun, which flashed spotted red in her vision, and put the cap over the muzzle before snapping it over her knee. A black butterfly flew out, which she cleansed as usual (with considerable grimacing as the wound on her waist was jostled). Then she pulled the cap off the broken gun and tossed it into the air to perform the standard cleanup. Her wounds closed up, leaving nothing but a faint scar about an inch in length across her cheek and a sore spot on her waist. Chat was also healed, and immediately leapt to his feet and came running to her.

“Ladybug!” He swept her up into a crushingly tight embrace, pulling her so close that he lifted her a few inches off the ground. “Thank God. I thought I was going to lose you.”

She opened her mouth to say she'd had the situation under control, but the sting of the scar on her face combined with the overwhelming relief in Chat's voice silenced her. She _had_ come close to losing an earlobe. And without Chat's intervention, the injury on her side could have been much worse. “I'm sorry for scaring you.”

He buried his face in her hair, pressing a kiss there. “It's all right. I'm just glad you're safe.”

“I'm sorry anyway,” she insisted as he proceeded to cover her face in kisses. She tried to kiss him back when he grazed the corner of her lips, but he moved to kiss the scar on her cheek before she could do so. He didn't seem inclined to stop anytime soon. “I'm okay, kitten. Really.”

“I know.” He brought his lips back to hers, capturing her in a desperate kiss. She melted into his touch readily, more than willing to give him the comfort he so clearly desired. The akuma victim, disoriented and tired, was forgotten for the moment.

“Please be more careful from now on,” Chat murmured against her lips before kissing her again.

She pulled back just enough to respond with an “I will,” and then let him kiss her into silence. They held fast to one another, their embrace tightening as their kisses grew hungrier, deeper, needier. It nearly made Ladybug jump out of her skin when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Broken from their own little world, she and Chat turned to look at the interloper—the akuma victim, still looking somewhat confused.

“I hate to interrupt,” he said with the weariness of someone who has been through a much-too-long day, “but could someone please tell me what's going on?”

Ladybug and Chat exchanged glances before slowly loosening their hold on one another. “I'll take care of him,” Ladybug offered. She gestured to Chat's legs, where he had been shot earlier. “You should probably get some rest so that you're not too sore tomorrow.”

“We weren't done with patrol,” Chat protested. “I'll come with you.”

She shook her head. “Go home, kitten. You got hurt a lot worse than I did. Patrol can wait for another night.”

He was reluctant, but he did as she said. Ladybug watched him leave with a twinge of regret before walking the akuma victim back home.

The next day, Marinette was embarrassed but not very surprised when the majority of her classmates' inquiries were made about her bruised lips rather than the angry red scar across her cheek. She brushed it off with a half-baked excuse about a sore spot and made a mental note to tell Chat the next time he kissed her that intense make-out sessions were strictly off-limits, even after life-threatening events.

 


	3. Spin the Bottle Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What's the best way to let your significant other learn about you without actually telling them who you are?  
> Spin the bottle, apparently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a spin the bottle kiss only in the loosest sense of the phrase. It's hard to try to write a game of spin the bottle for Ladynoir. It was requested by multiple Tumblr followers, though, so here it is anyway.

Ladybug was beginning to wonder if a relationship with Chat Noir had, in fact, been a bad idea.

Not that there was anything to complain about, really. Chat was as chivalrous as ever, and treated her like a queen. They still hadn't gotten into any serious fights. To anyone else, including Chat, their relationship would appear idyllic.

But oh God, the secret-keeping.

It gnawed at Ladybug like a dog at a bone—by virtue of their romantic relationship, Chat more than deserved to know who she was. She knew he deserved it. But years of keeping her identity a secret now drove her to remain silent, old anxieties creeping up to the surface. She trusted Chat not to tell anyone, but he was the one she was most afraid of telling. He had loved her for who she was as Ladybug for so long that she was scared her true identity might come as a disappointment. She was no confident, suave leader as Marinette. Just a design student who tripped over her own two feet. And so whether he deserved to know or not, she maintained her secrecy. It was a vicious cycle: the longer she stayed quiet, the harder it became to tell him, and the harder it became to tell him, the longer she stayed quiet.

Was it selfish of her? Yes. She knew she was being horribly selfish. And that was where the guilt came in. Chat Noir had always been wholly selfless for her sake, yet here she was, pitifully clinging to the one thing she ought to give him. She couldn't keep doing this. Better to give up their relationship than to keep the charade going. Chat would understand.

“We need to talk, kitten,” she said that night when Chat arrived for patrol. The sooner she got this out of the way, the better. If she waited, she might lose her courage.

He blinked, confusion obvious on his face. “Okay,” he agreed, and sat down on the edge of the building beside her. “What is it?”

Ladybug took a deep breath in to try to calm her nerves. “I … I don't think this is working.”

“What?” He sounded hurt. She couldn't bring herself to meet his gaze. “My lady, whatever I did, I—”

“It's not you,” she assured him. She clutched her knees to her chest as if that would offer her some semblance of comfort. “I just … it's not right, me being with you when you don't even know who I am.”

“I'd never tell anyone.”

She smiled bitterly. There it was again, the promise he made without considering his own reaction to the discovery. “I know you wouldn't.”

“Then—”

“I can't.” She curled in on herself further. “I can't, Chat. Don't ask that of me. _Please_.” _I'm doing this for you, kitten. Try to understand._

There was a long moment of silence in which she waited for him to be disappointed or to leave. Then Chat sighed. “As you wish, my lady. I won't pressure you to tell me. But I think we can make this work even if I don't know who you are.” His hand covered hers, warm and familiar and comforting.

“How?” She lifted her head up and finally brought herself to look at him.

He grinned. “I have an idea. You'll see tomorrow night.” And no matter how much prodding she gave him during patrol, he wouldn't say a word about his idea. The next night, he arrived with what looked an awful lot like an empty champagne bottle. Ladybug raised an eyebrow at him.

“You're not drunk, are you?” she asked, folding her arms across her chest.

Chat shook his head. “Perfectly sober. I brought this for my idea.”

She inspected him as closely as she could without looking like she was doing so. He certainly _seemed_ sober. But what on earth did he need a champagne bottle for? She was more perplexed about his idea than ever. “And what, pray tell, is your idea?”

He held the bottle aloft as if in triumph. “Spin the bottle!”

Ladybug stared at him incredulously. “How the heck is spin the bottle supposed to fix anything?”

“We play and get to know each other,” he answered matter-of-factly. He plopped down on the roof and set the bottle on its side in front of him.

“Kissing isn't exactly the kind of 'getting to know each other' I think we need, kitten,” she pointed out. “And spin the bottle is hard to do with only two people.”

Chat remained stubbornly in place. “We take turns spinning. If it doesn't land on the other person, the one who spun can say one fact about themselves. And if it does land on the other person, the one who spun shares something they love about the other.”

“That's not how you play spin the bottle,” she argued.

He started to sulk. “I came up with the idea myself,” he mumbled. “This way it's fair. You get to know me better, and I get to know you better, and neither of us has to tell who we are.”

Ladybug pursed her lips in thought. It was an unconventional idea, for sure, but it _was_ a way to get to know one another without revealing identities. “All right.” She sat down across from him.

Chat immediately brightened, and he offered the bottle to her to spin.

Back and forth they went, the bottle pointing at neither of them more often than not. Ladybug learned that Chat was an only child, that he'd had a job since he was fourteen, that he was painfully shy outside of the mask (she had to laugh at the absurdity of the notion of a shy Chat Noir), and that his favorite color was the blue of her eyes. She learned that he was going to school for a degree in quantum physics, that he had started to learn how to cook for himself this year, that his favorite time of day was the first light of sunrise, and that he thought being Chat Noir was the most important thing he could ever do. She learned that he loved her smile, her courage, and her willingness to do the right thing. In turn, Chat learned that she had been taught how to bake at a young age, that she too was an only child, that she used to have a stuttering problem (she refused to say around whom), and that she had always secretly wanted a pet hamster. He learned that she thought better when she was outside, that she had once been asked out on a date by a classmate on a dare, that her favorite season was spring, and that she couldn't say no when a friend asked a favor of her. He learned that she loved his honesty, his kindness, and his laugh. And each found themselves falling more in love with the other.

“Now has this been so bad?” he asked her after she shared that he had been her first kiss. He was giving her that oh-so-familiar little grin of his, his eyes dancing merrily.

“Not really,” she admitted, and passed the bottle back to him. Chat picked it up rather than spin it, setting it down behind him out of the way.

“Do you still want to go back to being just friends?” he asked, softer. The corners of his mouth drooped ever so slightly in what she could tell was fear of rejection.

She shook her head, and watched as he perked up with relief. “I think I'll stick with my kitten for now,” she replied with a smile.

Chat leapt forward to tackle her in a tight hug. There was a faint crashing sound as his tail knocked the bottle off the roof of the building. Chat ignored it and the equally faint “where the _hell_ did that come from?” shouted by a passerby below. He nuzzled his cheek against hers, and then pressed a kiss there.

“For the record, my lady,” he murmured in her ear, “I will always love you, no matter who's under the mask. Whether you tell me tomorrow or never tell me at all.” The warmth of his breath so close sent a pleasant shiver through her.

Ladybug returned his embrace, pulling him closer. “I know.” She would keep it a secret for now. But maybe someday she would tell him, someday when she wasn't still scared that Marinette wouldn't be enough.

Maybe, she thought as she kissed him, maybe someday would turn out to be sooner than either of them expected.

 


	4. Last Surprise Kiss Before I Go Off and Do Something Dangerous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug has had enough of Chat Noir taking all the hits for her. Chat Noir just wants to make sure she's safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good grief I'm really sorry it took so long to post this chapter, I had no idea it was going to take this long to finish it.

Ladybug really needed to have a talk with Chat Noir about risking his life for her sake.

He had done it again, just the other day. There had been an akuma running around and turning people to stone. Naturally, when the akuma had gone after Ladybug, Chat Noir had gotten in the way. His sacrifice had given her the time she needed to find and cleanse the possessed object, but she still wasn't happy about her partner and boyfriend being turned to stone. Even if he had come out of it okay in the end.

“I think we need to talk, kitten,” she said when they met up for patrol.

Chat gave her an inquiring, cautious look. “That doesn't bode well. Last time you said that, you were thinking of breaking up.” He leaned against the chimney of the house they were standing on. “What's wrong?”

She took a deep breath and steeled herself just in case this was going to turn into a shouting match. She hoped it wouldn't come to that. “Nothing's wrong, per se,” she assured him. “But … I've been thinking.” She sat down cross-legged on the roof. “You're always putting yourself in danger for me. You've done it so many times that I'm lucky I haven't lost you for good yet.”

“Cats have nine lives,” he reminded her cheerfully.

“You've been hurt _way_ more than nine times,” Ladybug countered. “And I'm scared that my luck is going to run out someday and I'm really going to lose you.” Her fingers clenched in her lap. “Please, Chat. I don't want you to throw yourself in danger anymore.”

“And risk losing _you?_ Forget it.”

She did her best to glare at him, but it ended up being more of a panic-stricken stare. “Chat—”

“I'm expendable,” he interrupted. “I'm not the one who can cleanse the akumas. Paris needs you more than it needs me.”

“And what about me?” she demanded. “I don't care if Paris needs you or not, _I_ need you. I could never do this by myself.”

He opened his mouth to reply, but a loud bubbling, gurgling sound rose up from below before he could get a single word out. The sound was accompanied by a shriek and a lamenting exclamation of “my car!”

Immediately, Chat's attention swiveled to the streets. “Are you thinking what I'm thinking?”

“Akuma,” Ladybug agreed. She got to her feet and launched herself off the roof with her yo-yo, Chat Noir hot on her heels. It didn't take long for them to find out what the problem was: The Seine had overflown its banks, and was flooding the streets of Paris.

“An aquatic akuma?” Chat wondered. “Seems fishy to me.”

Ladybug rolled her eyes, but a small smile made its way to her lips. Him and his stupid puns. “The akuma can't be in the water. It would drown.” Even as she said it, though, she saw something ripple the surface of the water. Maybe the akuma _was_ underwater, as inconceivable as the idea was.

“I'm going down to get a better look,” she warned him, and then she hooked her yo-yo around the nearest rain gutter and let the string extend until she was dangling a few scant feet above the water. It was murky with dirt and garbage and other debris it had picked up off the streets, and she couldn't see much of anything past the surface. There was no way to tell for certain if the akuma was in there or not.

Then a hand covered in shimmering blue scales shot out of the water and made a grab for her. Ladybug spat out a curse and swung herself up as far as she could manage with only the force of her weight to propel her. The hand disappeared back below the surface, replaced by a wet head of seaweed-colored hair plastered to blue-scaled shoulders. Golden eyes glared out from behind the strands of green hair.

“Get away from my water!” the akuma hissed. It made another lunge at her, reaching further this time, and she would have been dragged down into the water if Chat hadn't chosen that moment to haul her up to the rooftops by the string of her yo-yo.

“Looks like my fishing line picked up a lady,” he remarked with a grin. Despite his outward cheer, though, she could see a flicker of worry in his eyes, and she knew he had been scared the akuma would drown her.

“Enough joking,” she mock-scolded. She unwound her yo-yo from the rain gutter. “How are we supposed to get at the akuma if it's underwater? I can't see a thing down there, and as soon as either of us goes in, that thing is going to drown us.” She fell silent as she lapsed into thought.

Chat looked down at the water. Then he started nudging her shoulder warningly. “My lady, there's a bigger problem right now.”

Ladybug's head snapped up to look at him, and then snapped down to look at the water instead. He was right; the water level was beginning to rise. If it weren't for the fact that akumas seldom followed the laws of logic, she would have thought she was seeing things. “We need to get to higher ground.” She grabbed Chat by the wrist and tugged him away from the edge of the roof, towards one of the taller buildings.

“Do you think Cataclysm would work on water?” Chat asked as they went.

Ladybug pondered. _Would_ Cataclysm work on water? How did one destroy water? Would it just evaporate? Would it do nothing? She wasn't sure. “I have no idea.”

“It's worth a try,” he decided, and before she could stop him, he pulled out of her grip and jumped off the building, calling on his powers as he dropped.

“Chat!” She ran to the edge of the roof and looked down. There was no sign of her partner in the murky water below, and no sign that the water level had diminished. “ _Chat!_ ”

A blond, soaked head of hair broke the surface seconds later. Ladybug's panic settled into relief. He was okay. The akuma hadn't gotten to him. He was safe.

For now, at least.

“That was a splash,” Chat quipped. He looked up at Ladybug and waved to her. “It didn't get rid of all of it, but I think it slowed it down.”

“That's better than nothing.” She lowered her yo-yo down to him and pulled him up. He was soaked through from head to toe, but otherwise looked fine. “Are you all right?”

“Perfectly fine, my lady,” he assured her. He leaned in close. “But I appreciate your concern.”

She pushed him away by the nose. “Romance later, kitten. We still have an akuma to stop, and now you've only got five minutes left.”

“So what do we do? Any ideas?”

Ladybug looked back down at the water. The surface rippled briefly, and she caught a glimpse of seaweed green hair before it vanished into the murk. “The akuma won't leave the water. We're going to have to meet it in its element.”

“I thought you said it would drown us if we did that?” Chat pointed out.

“It might,” she admitted. “But I don't think we have a choice.” She called up her Lucky Charm and was given a spotted fishnet. The old-fashioned kind, sans handle, the sort typically used on industrial fishing boats. It didn't take her long to figure out what was expected of her with this particular item.

“Got a plan?” Chat asked her.

“I think so,” she confirmed. She stretched the net out between her hands and bunched up the excess so she wouldn't trip over it. “Distract the akuma for me, will you? And do it from here. I don't want you getting drowned.”

“As you wish. But what are you going to do?”

“Just trust me.” She set her yo-yo in its place around her hips and then crashed her lips into his for a desperate kiss. Just in case she didn't make it back out of the water. While Chat was still staring at her, dazed, she jumped off the roof and into the water. Dimly, she could hear him shout her name in panic, and then the water closed in around her head and everything was silent except for the tumultuous sloshing of the currents. It took her a moment to work up the courage to open her eyes. She was a little afraid of what she might see in this disgusting water. But she slid one eye open, and then the other, and it wasn't as bad as she had been expecting. Sure, she could only see a couple feet in front of her, but those two feet were better than nothing.

Something grabbed her by the ankle and dragged her down further into the water.

Ladybug kicked and squirmed, but nothing seemed to be able to break the grip of whatever was holding onto her. She had a queasy feeling in her stomach that it was the akuma. _Any time now would be great for you to start distracting the akuma, Chat!_ Fighting the drag of the water, she curled herself into a ball to try to see what had a hold of her. Sure enough, blue-scaled fingers were clamped around her ankle.

“I told you to stay out of my water,” the akuma snarled, and its voice carried perfectly through the water as much as if they had been above the surface. “Now you pay, Ladybug.” It lunged with its free hand outstretched towards her Miraculous, yanking her towards itself by the ankle.

Now was the time. Ladybug stretched the net out as far as it would go, and shoved it over the top of the akuma. Tangled, the akuma fought to wrestle the net off. As it thrashed, Ladybug caught sight of a seashell pendant hanging from a bracelet around its wrist. Through the spots that were beginning to blur her vision, she snatched the pendant and snapped it between her hands. Sure enough, a black butterfly came flying out, its movements lethargic in the currents.

 _No more evildoing—_ She opened her mouth to say the familiar words, and filthy water came flooding in. Ladybug gagged and coughed, and struggled to swim upwards after the akuma, fighting the dizziness that was coming with the lack of air. The water never seemed to end. The longer she swam, the further she seemed to be from the surface, and the black spots were encroaching further and further into her vision.

Finally— _finally—_ her head broke the surface, and she gasped and swallowed in the cool, clean air. The spots began to fade from her vision. Above her, a black butterfly made its way into the night. “Oh, no you don't.” Ladybug took up her yo-yo and slung it into the air. The akuma was snatched up, and she reeled it in. As soon as it was purified and she had used Miraculous Ladybug, the water retreated to its rightful place in the Seine. She was deposited somewhat roughly on the pavement, along with a very confused-looking civilian clad in the jacket of a high school swim team.

Chat Noir dropped down from above seconds later. “Are you crazy? You could have _drowned!_ When you didn't come up after a few seconds, I—I thought—I was afraid you—”

Ladybug got to her feet and brushed the last few water droplets off her supersuit. She met his eyes steadily. “Now you know how I feel when you do something stupid.”

That seemed to shut him up. He gaped at her, staring with an incredulous look on his face. Ladybug turned to go address the akuma victim.

With the extra time added on by having to leave, recharge, and come back midway through, it took about half an hour to get the poor high school student oriented and to take her home. Apparently her grades had dropped and she had been told she was going to be taken off the swim team. The last thing she remembered was crying in the locker room because it was her senior year and she wouldn't be able to participate in her final swim meets. Ladybug was willing to bet that was when a certain butterfly had shown up to offer powers and a bargain. But she kept that to herself, and explained to the girl's parents that there had been an akuma attack their daughter had gotten caught up in—she left out the part about their daughter _being_ the akuma. She also recommended they find her a tutor for the classes she was struggling with. Once that was done, she and Chat went back to the rooftops to finish patrol.

“Please never do something like that again,” Chat requested as they made their way towards their usual route.

“Like what? Like the things you do all the time?” she countered.

“Ladybug, I—”

“I know,” she interrupted. “I know I'm the only one who can purify the akumas. I _know_ you're just trying to keep me safe. I still hate it when something happens to you and I can't do anything about it.”

Chat was quiet for awhile, long enough that Ladybug began to wonder if perhaps she had been too harsh. “You're right,” he agreed finally. “I'm sorry. It's just—when you're in danger, I … I don't stop to think about anything.”

She let out a low, steady breath. _Patience._ Once she was sure she could carry on a rational conversation and not explode, she turned to face him. “Then please, start to think before you act. Or at least try.” She reached out and gave his bell a flick. “I need you, kitten. Just as much as you need me.”

His gaze dropped, ashamed, to the roof. “I'll try, my lady,” he said. “But I can't make any promises.”

That would have to do, she supposed. He wouldn't make a promise if he thought there was a chance he might break it. Trying was going to have to be enough. She didn't like it, but that was the best he could offer. “That's fine. As long as you're actually trying.” She went up on tiptoe to press a kiss to his cheek.

Chat sighed and wound his arms around her waist. “Do we have to finish patrol? That akuma took forever to get rid of. I'd rather take the night off.”

Ladybug slipped back out of his arms. As much as she wanted to take the night off too, they had a job as protectors of Paris, and that meant patrol. “You'll have plenty of time to rest afterwards. The night's still young.”

He pretended to pout at her. “I was hoping to take the night off to spend time with you, my lady.”

She grinned and resumed walking. “You get to spend plenty of time with me on patrol,” she said teasingly. “You don't have to take a night off for _that_.”

“You know what I mean.” All the same, he hurried to catch up with her.

God, why was it so fun to tease him like this? She picked up her pace and swung across to the next building with Chat trailing behind. “After patrol. And yes, we're doing the whole route.”

Chat groaned but, as she knew he always would, he continued to follow.

 


	5. Sated Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patrol does not count as a date. Time for Ladybug to do what she does best--get creative.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! I'm so sorry for the long hiatus. I'm going to try to post stuff more frequently now that I have recovered from my slump. This one, of course, is subject to how often I receive the kiss prompts, but I have no doubt I'll get some in my Tumblr inbox in short order (I usually get some after I post a part). Anyone here on AO3 who wants to submit a prompt can find the link to the prompt list on my blog jesus-otaku.tumblr.com in any of the parts of 1000 Kisses--just run a search in the search bar and you'll find it!

“My lady, I've been thinking,” Chat said.

Ladybug glanced at him over her shoulder. They had just barely started patrol for the night—what was so important that it couldn't wait until after? The thought that he might want to break up crossed her mind for an instant, and she dismissed it. After how desperately he had tried to make sure this relationship could work, she couldn't imagine him ever wanting to end it. “What is it?”

“I love being able to see you every night like this, even when it's only for patrol,” he started, talking slowly as if he were afraid to finish, “but … well … sometimes it doesn't feel like enough. I want to be able to take you out on a real date sometime. No patrol, no saving Paris, no heroics, just … just you and me, spending time together.”

He was talking faster now, tripping and stumbling over his words like he couldn't get them out quick enough. Ladybug stopped walking and turned to face him. He had already halted, and was staring fixedly at a spot on the roof they were standing on, his hands trembling with nervousness. Her poor kitty. How long had he been holding this in?

“I want to be able to take you out for dinner,” he went on, still refusing to meet her eyes. “Someplace fancy, where I could treat you to some of the best food in Paris. I want to take you to the movies, and to those design shows you told me about when we played spin the bottle. I want to be able to walk through Paris with you, the way normal couples do, holding hands and walking on the streets instead of racing across the rooftops. I want to see our city in the daylight with you, without an akuma getting in the way. I love, love, _love_ spending this time together at night, but … I wish we could do more together.”

She bit her lip, a little overwhelmed and a little torn. Real dates would be wonderful—he was right, that meeting for patrol didn't quite seem like enough—but at the same time, that would inevitably mean revealing identities. The two of them wouldn't be able to go anywhere together as Ladybug and Chat Noir without the media descending upon them almost immediately. And revealing her secret identity was something she still wasn't sure she was ready to do. She stepped closer to him, cupping his cheek in her hand so he would look at her.

God, he looked so scared and vulnerable. Why did this have to be so damn hard? “I wish we could, too,” she admitted to him softly. His expression began to lift with hope. She took a deep breath in, to brace herself for the disappointment she was going to cause him. “But kitten, it would be too risky. You know we couldn't expect to go anywhere together as superheroes without being bombarded by reporters. And …”

Chat Noir's face fell, and he cast his gaze back down to the roof. “You're still not comfortable with us revealing our identities to each other, aren't you?” He sighed. “It's all right, my lady.” Somehow, impossibly, he managed a smile for her. “I understand. Forget I said anything.”

How did he always manage to be so selfless? She threw her arms around him, relieved and grateful and guilty all at once. Chat returned the embrace after only a moment's surprised pause. “Thank you, kitten,” she murmured. She withdrew just enough that she could look up at him, letting her hands slide down to catch his. “I have an idea. But you'd have to get here early for patrol tomorrow night. Like nine o'clock early. Would that be okay?”

He gave her hands a squeeze. “Anything for you, my lady.”

It was stressful the next day, trying to juggle her schoolwork and setting up everything she needed for what she had planned. She was late for her first class of the day and almost missed her second one entirely, and even then she wasn't sure she'd have everything ready by the time Chat arrived for patrol at nine. By eight, she was in a barely contained panic. She had work to catch up on for tomorrow's classes, and the final setup to finish for her rendezvous with Chat, and only one hour to do it in.

“Why did I do this to myself, Tikki?” she groaned, burying her face in her design notebooks. Maybe if she laid there long enough, the information would diffuse into her brain.

Tikki landed on Marinette's head, and gave her a reassuring pat. “Because you love him?” She dropped down to hug Marinette's cheek, the way she always liked to display affection. “You'll be okay, Marinette. Do your homework. You don't have to meet him for another hour, and it'll only take a few minutes for you to set up. You've got time.”

Tikki, of course, was right—as she always was. Marinette might have rushed a little more through her homework than was absolutely necessary, but she at least made it to their meeting spot by eight fifty (after a very hasty and almost forgotten transformation). She had just finished arranging everything to her liking when she heard the soft tap of footsteps behind her and knew Chat Noir had arrived. “Surprise,” she said, turning around to face him with a nervous smile.

He looked down at the little set she had created—candles, sweet wine, a few breads and pastries she had managed to wheedle out of her parents, all arranged on a small tablecloth she had made out of spare fabric—and whistled as he looked back up at her. To her relief, he was smiling. “What's the occasion?”

“No occasion,” Ladybug replied. She sat down on the edge of the tablecloth and gestured for him to join her, which he did. “I just … well, I thought this might at least make up a little for us not being able to go on a regular date.”

“This more than makes up for it,” he assured her. He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her in tight to his side. “Besides, I think we could technically count this as a regular date. No patrol, no akuma, just you and me and Paris.” He swept his hand out, gesturing to the skyline sprawled out in front of them, and nestled his head atop hers.

“You're such a romantic, kitten,” she teased. Now that she knew he liked the surprise, that he liked her idea, it was like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. All the stress and panic of the day suddenly seemed worth it. She allowed herself to relax against him, curving her body to fit his.

Chat's fingers crept up to comb through her hair. “You're one to talk. I think you're a bit of a romantic yourself. I never would have come up with something like this.”

“You're the one who came up with the spin the bottle thing. Something like this would've occurred to you eventually.”

“But not nearly as well-thought-out as you made it.”

“I threw this together in less than twenty-four hours, and you call it well-thought-out? That's sure not the word I'd have picked to describe it.”

“Could've fooled me.” He squeezed her closer for a minute, tucking her in so she was pressed against his chest, before releasing her to grab the wine. “What do you say we crack this open? It'd be a pity to let it go to waste after you went to all the trouble to bring it.”

Ladybug smiled. Seeing him so happy like this, she thought she would go through all the trouble again a million times over, just for him. “That sounds like a good idea to me.”

As rushed as planning for the date had been, it was wonderful. It brought a new dynamic to their relationship—something quieter, more peaceful, softer, a little closer to “normality,” than their usual playful competition and flirting. Of course, it wasn't all tender moments (there were a couple of minor food fights, both in good fun, that ended in spilled glasses of wine and crumbs in hair), but Ladybug could feel something between them shifting. They weren't just a power couple anymore. Not just comrades in battle, not just a pair who would give their lives for each other in a fight. There was something profoundly intimate and tender about spending time together like this that had nothing to do with their roles as superhero partners.

“Chat,” she said as they picked bits of pastry out of each other's hair after their second food fight, “I've been thinking.”

“About what, my lady?” There was no trace of concern in his voice. An unbelievably strong wash of relief came over her as she realized he no longer had any fears of losing the relationship they'd built.

“Would you like to do this again?” She took her eyes off her work—there wasn't much pastry left in his hair now anyway—to meet his gaze. “Have another date like this? We could … maybe once a week, or every other week … not on weekdays like this again, since I was in a bit of a scramble to take care of everything I needed to do today, but …”

A broad grin spread across his face, and he leaned in to kiss her. “I would love to.”

Marinette slept better that night than she had in a long time, wrapped in warm new memories of silly food fights and lingering kisses that tasted like sweet wine.

 


	6. To Keep a Cover Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug and Chat Noir share old memories, both good and somewhat painful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, it's been longer than I hoped it would be between parts for this fic. I'm really trying my best to update more quickly now that the Miraculous Big Bang is over (which you can check out here on AO3 at this link: http://archiveofourown.org/collections/miraculousbang2k17 --everyone's fics are amazing!), so fingers crossed that maybe this fic will be updated on at least a semi-regular basis now.  
> This prompt is supposed to technically be for an unestablished couple, so enjoy a little flashback in this chapter! It's not really a "to keep a cover" kiss in the strictest sense of the term, but this is as close as I could get it.

“Oh my God, that akuma was the worst.”

Chat laughed uproariously. “You're just saying that because he threw you in the Seine.”

“I smelled like river water for a week! A whole week! Do you have any idea how many excuses I had to come up with to explain why I smelled so bad?”

“You're exaggerating. We had patrol the night after and you smelled fine.”

Ladybug shoved him playfully. “You always think I smell fine.”

“I don't know, you did smell kind of funky after getting tossed in the Seine.” He laughed again as she swatted at him. “You're the one who said you smelled like river water after. Don't come after me for agreeing with you.”

She rolled her eyes at him and swung her feet back and forth over the edge of the roof. It was “date” number two, and they had been swapping memories of akumas and battles past for the last ten minutes or so. She hadn't realized until now just how _many_ akumas they had faced. Five years of this superhero thing had racked up quite the villain count. Just in the last ten minutes, they had recalled at least twenty. “Do you remember Copycat?”

He groaned. “Do I remember being a wanted criminal for a day? Unfortunately, yes. That akuma was _really_ the worst.”

She giggled at the put-out expression on his face, and nudged him with her shoulder. “Hey, at least I knew it wasn't you who did it, right?”

“You sure had a lot of trouble telling me apart from that lousy fake, though,” he teased, rubbing his nose against hers.

She gave him a quick kiss. “It's like I told you back then, isn't it? Once I figured out which one was really in love with me, it was easy to tell you two apart.”

“You know, it crushed me when you said that the first time,” he remarked.

Ladybug blinked in confusion, pulling back a little so she could meet his gaze. “Why?”

He looked equally confused, as if the answer should have been obvious. “Because you didn't think I was really in love with you.”

She stifled a laugh, hiding her face in her hand. “Silly kitty. That wasn't what I meant when I said that at all.”

“Wait, so you—”

“I meant you were the one who was really in love with me,” she confirmed with a grin. “Copycat, he was…obsessed, kind of. I mean, his statue is nice, don't get me wrong, but his whole thing about being the one who deserved me? Creepy.”

Chat flopped back to lie down on the roof, his arms spread-eagled. “I wish I'd known that's what you meant. I was convinced you thought I didn't love you.”

She tucked her knees up to her chest. “I think I always kind of knew you did,” she confessed. “I…never really wanted to admit that I knew, or even really think about it, because, I mean…we were just partners then, and I thought I liked someone else.”

“Oh?” He sat up, just a little. “Who?”

Even though she was very sure that her crush on Adrien was a thing of the past, she felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment. “A classmate.” She plowed on before Chat could ask for a name. She didn't want to confess to having had a crush on a model whose face was still to this day plastered on magazines across France. “Anyway, so I didn't really let myself think about the fact that you were in love with me for a long time. And then I graduated, and my old crush and I sort of fell out of touch, and…I realized that maybe it had just been a crush, and not real love like I'd thought it was. So I really thought about what I wanted in a guy, and…” She shrugged helplessly. “What can I say? You ruined my standards for men, kitten. And I kind of let myself notice then that you were in love with me, and, well, the rest, as they say, is history.”

He smiled. “So that's when you started flirting back.”

She nodded, her lips tugging up into their own smile. “That's when I started flirting back.”

Chat shifted to wrap his arms around her waist. “Lucky me,” he said. He paused, then added, “But I still didn't like Copycat.”

Ladybug laughed. “I'm sure you didn't.”

He slid closer, propping his chin on her shoulder. “This isn't an akuma, but do you remember that time the Ladyblog girl's younger sister was convinced we were dating and she begged us to get a kiss on tape to humor her?”

“Oh, God, I remember that. I hope she deleted that video.”

“Aw, come on, it's a classic now. I hope she saved it just so that if we ever have kids I could show it to them.”

“I whacked your teeth!”

“Well, you _were_ kind of in a rush to get it over with,” he remarked teasingly. “Since you hated the idea of kissing me so very much back then.”

She covered her face with her hands slowly. “Alya still owes me for agreeing to do that.” The memory was excruciatingly painful to look back on, in the way that most people would have been embarrassed to be reminded of what they had said right after getting their wisdom teeth removed. It was much better off being remembered only in her head, and not preserved on camera for all posterity.

~

_2 years ago…_

“Pleeeeaaaaase?” Alya clasped her hands together and made the biggest puppy eyes she could possibly manage. “I swear it won't go on the Ladyblog. But my sister's being impossible and she knows I know you and she really wants this video. Oh—I can make it a photo instead! If that would be better. Then you only have to kiss for a second. Please please please please please!” She was practically kowtowing at this point.

“You don't have to convince me,” Chat Noir said. “Anything for a fan. But…” He glanced Ladybug's way, and she saw the silent uncertainty in his eyes. He had to be remembering all of his failed advances over the past three years.

She took the lead. “That's a lot to ask of us, Alya.” Chat looked glad for the interception. “I understand your sister must…really want us to get together, but we can't go along with this and deceive her. It wouldn't be right.”

“I've tried convincing her you're not an item,” Alya said apologetically. “I've done everything I can. She just won't listen. I give you my word this will never, ever go on the Ladyblog. Please, just this once? She's a kid and you two are like…you're like royalty or something to her. Can't you please give her the fairy tale kiss she wants to see?”

Ladybug sighed. Alya was lucky that they were friends, and that Marinette could never say no to a friend. “Okay, fine, but I think you owe us a favor for this.”

Alya whipped her phone out in the time it would have taken most people to blink. “Anything for my favorite superheroes! You two ready?”

Ladybug and Chat glanced at each other, the atmosphere between them shifting from its usual comfort into unbearably heavy awkwardness. “Not quite,” Ladybug admitted. She had to struggle to meet Chat's eyes. “So, um, how do we do this? Should I be closer, or should we be standing, or…”

“It's just a video for her little sister,” Chat pointed out, shrugging it off. “I think we can get away with sitting. Here, um…scoot closer, and I'll…put my arms around your…your waist…”

She scooted closer as instructed, suddenly feeling very aware of their proximity and every little move either of them made. “Like this?”

“Y-yeah.” Chat's hands came up to wrap around her waist, barely a ghost of a touch. He was turning pale, like he was too nervous even to blush. “Like that.”

Alya was on the edge of her seat, her knees bouncing up and down with anticipation. Ladybug got the feeling that Alya was as invested in this video as her little sister was. “That's perfect! Oh, and Ladybug, maybe put your hands on his shoulders, like they do in the movies.”

Feeling like she'd been turned into some kind of pose mannequin, Ladybug did as she was told. Her and Chat's faces were only inches apart now. She probably could have counted the strands of hair falling across his forehead if she had wanted to, but she reminded herself firmly that that was _definitely_ something she didn't want to do. “Can we get this over with now?” she asked Alya, not taking her eyes off poor Chat, who was still incredibly pale.

“Okay! Three, two, one, and…action!”

She must have been more nervous about kissing Chat on camera than she'd realized. She leaned in at the same time that Chat did, far too quickly, resulting in a painful clash of lips and teeth and almost foreheads and noses too. They both pulled back a little with quiet “ow”s, reeling, but Alya was still filming and so Chat leaned back in, slower this time, to try again.

God, kissing someone you weren't interested in was a chore. She tried to pretend, in her mind, that it was Adrien kissing her, Adrien holding her waist, Adrien's lips on hers, but it didn't help much. Her brain still knew that it was Chat, not Adrien, that she was kissing, and the “fairy tale” magic that was supposed to happen during a kiss was definitely absent. It wasn't that he was a bad kisser. On the contrary, he was really a very good kisser. But he wasn't Adrien, and that was making all the difference. She forced herself to pretend she was enjoying this, for the sake of Alya's sister, but she was counting down the seconds until this was all over the whole time.

“And cut!” Ladybug and Chat pulled apart immediately as Alya hit the button on her phone to stop recording. “Thanks so much guys, I really owe you one. It was a little awkward, but that's my fault for making you do it even though you're not together. You guys are the best. Let me know if there's ever anything, and I mean anything, I can do for you.”

As Marinette went home that night after the interview, she decided to wipe the kiss from her memory as much as possible. It had been forced, and awkward, and nothing she would have wanted a real kiss to be. And she promised herself she would never, ever kiss Chat Noir again.

She had no idea how much her opinion of Chat Noir would change in the near future.

~

_The present day…_

“Y' know, we could always redo that kiss for the Ladyblog,” Chat pointed out, and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Now that we would actually mean it. The public's been dying to see us become a couple for ages.”

“I am _not_ kissing you on camera. Me and publicity don't go well together at all.” She flicked his bell. “And if we did that, we'd never get any peace. The press would be even worse than it is now.”

He sighed, not unaffectionately. “You're right. As always. And I like our time together like this too much to sacrifice it for the press.”

Ladybug smiled up at him. “What happened to 'anything for our fans'?”

He shrugged, and shot her an impish grin in reply. “I swapped that out for 'anything for my lady' once we started going out.”

“A reasonable change.” She set her hands on his shoulders. “We could recreate that kiss right now, if you wanted.”

Chat wrapped his arms tight around her waist. “That sounds like a purr-fect idea to me.”

 


	7. Against a Locker Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An akuma makes an appearance at good old François Dupont, and Ladybug shares a bit of information about her identity with Chat Noir. One goes over better than the other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I had a little too much fun with this prompt. Upping the rating to T just to be safe, but it's a pretty mellow T.  
> I'm already at work on part 8, so hopefully the gap between this and my next update won't be as long as some of the past ones have been.

Ladybug had to admit, she was pretty surprised when an akuma turned up at François Dupont again. It had been a few years since that had last happened.

But, she supposed, the world had no shortage of Chloé Bourgeois types who would be more than happy to trample all over their classmates' lives. And whatever the case, the akuma needed addressing, be it at François Dupont, the Louvre, the Palace of Justice, or the office of the mayor himself. She stammered out a hasty excuse about needing to go back to her dorm to grab a forgotten lucky pencil (which she needn't have bothered with, since her classmates were preoccupied with watching the akuma attack transpire on the news) and minutes later was swinging across Paris to her old school.

It was a peculiar brand of nostalgia, seeing the akuma—Teacher's Pet, in this case—terrorizing the student body and the teachers she had known so well. It almost made her feel like she was fifteen again. The nostalgia was broken a little when Chat Noir, who was definitely not the lanky, barely-taller-than-Ladybug teenager he used to be, joined the fight a few minutes after it started.

“Hey there,” he said to the akuma as he used his baton to block an attack that had been meant for Ladybug, “school's out. What do you say we take this outside, you and me, and have a proper catfight?”

The distraction was all Ladybug needed. Teacher's Pet wasn't a particularly dangerous akuma, and the possessed girl was only a teenager. Now that Ladybug was a little older, fighting a teenager was almost laughably easy. She pinned the girl's arms to her body using her yo-yo, and the pencil she had been using for her attacks clattered to the floor. “You didn't even try with that pun,” she remarked to Chat as he picked up the pencil and snapped it in two. The akuma fluttered free.

“I didn't realize winning this one was going to be such a breeze,” Chat replied, watching as she released the girl and caught up the butterfly that was attempting to escape. “Figured I'd have more time to sneak in at least one or two after that.”

“Bye bye, little butterfly.” She grinned over at him. “Honestly, I was more surprised that the fight even lasted long enough for you to get here. She wasn't exactly a tough opponent.” She glanced around to check for damage, but aside from a few hysterical François Dupont students, she saw none. Teacher's Pet had apparently been neither a threatening nor particularly destructive akuma. By the time she focused again on the formerly possessed girl, her akuma attire had vanished, leaving an ordinary student in its wake.

The girl looked down at herself, and around at the school and her fellow students, in obvious confusion. “What am I…?”

“I'll take care of her,” Chat volunteered with a wink. “Since I missed out on half the battle.” He moved to talk to the student, and Ladybug went the other way to speak to the attack victims.

“Everything's all right now,” she promised the teachers. “But whatever happened, one of you might want to talk to her about it and make sure it's not a problem that will come up again for her.” She paused. “What exactly _did_ happen?”

“She did poorly on a test,” Madame Mendeleiev supplied. “But she seemed fine when she left class. I suggested she discuss the matter with me, since she usually does very well, but she refused.”

Ladybug looked around at the other teachers. They shook their heads and shrugged. “I'll see if her classmates can tell me anything. Thank you, Madame Mendeleiev.” She went to address the few students remaining in the building. Goodness, they were so short! Had she really been that small once? “Do any of you have any idea what happened? Maybe she had a fight with a friend, or somebody teased her about her grade, or…?”

“Amelie did,” a dark-haired boy answered. The brunette girl next to him elbowed him sharply. “Ow! It's true,” he insisted defensively, glaring at the girl. She must have been Amelie. “You made her look bad in front of everybody. She didn't run off crying to the bathroom until after you did that.”

“As if it's my fault she can't take constructive criticism,” the girl snapped.

“Okay, okay, everyone calm down,” Ladybug interrupted. The two kids swiveled their attention back to her. “Amelie, do you do this kind of thing a lot?”

“Do what?” Amelie examined her nails, as if she were bored. It reminded Ladybug of Chloé far more than she wanted it to. “All I did was tell her my opinion. She's the one who blew the whole thing out of proportion and turned into that…thing.”

“Akuma.”

“Please.” Amelie rolled her eyes at Ladybug. “Whatever she turned into, it sure didn't qualify as an akuma.”

Ladybug sighed. Amelie seemed more and more like a second Chloé the longer she kept talking. Which was the last thing she wanted to deal with right now. “She was akumatized by Hawk Moth, so even if she didn't seem like that bad of a threat, she was still an akuma. And I would really hope that in the future, you're going to do your best not to do anything that might make somebody become one.” She clapped a hand on Amelie's shoulder. “Okay? Paris will stay safer if you're a little kinder to everyone. Can you promise me you'll try to be nicer?”

Amelie's defensive attitude melted in an instant. “Well, I guess if Ladybug asks me to, then…”

“Great.” She patted Amelie's shoulder, thanked the boy for speaking up, and then went back over to the teachers to let them know the problem had been identified and resolved. Chat Noir joined her, the formerly akumatized girl in tow.

“Madame Mendeleiev, would you see to it that she makes it home?” Ladybug suggested, ushering the girl towards her teacher. “I'm sure a talk about her test would help more than she thinks.”

“Of course.” Madame Mendeleiev walked the girl towards the school entrance. Principal Damocles was already ushering the rest of the students out—school had technically ended at least half an hour ago. Chat turned to Ladybug.

“So, what say you we walk around a bit and relive the past?” he suggested, folding his hands behind his head. “We've got a lot of memories from this old place.”

 _More than you realize_ , Ladybug thought with a smile. She headed for the stairs to the second floor. “I guess a quick jaunt wouldn't hurt.”

That peculiar brand of nostalgia came back as they meandered around the building, poking their heads into classrooms and offices. There was her old desk, where she used to sit right behind Adrien, and the classroom where she and Adrien had almost kissed for Nino's student film before Chloé and Horrificator had cut the filming short. There was the library where she had run up against the Evillustrator for the first time, and had beaten Max at Ultimate Mecha Strike 3, and seen the footage of Stone Heart when she had first become Ladybug so long ago. There were the benches where she and Alya had sat, day after day, ogling over magazines and looking at Alya's latest posts on the Ladyblog and scheming up new plans for how to make Adrien fall in love with Marinette. But of course she couldn't share those memories with Chat. No, the two of them made a game of recalling all the akumas they had fought at this building. Reflekta, the Evillustrator, Horrificator, Stone Heart. The classics, the ones that had happened long enough ago that their memories of the fights themselves were all jumbled up, the ones all the way back in the first year of the team Ladybug and Chat Noir. Miss Take, Harlequin, Teacher's Pet. The newer ones that had come in the years since, the ones where they could have reenacted the whole battle sequence if they wanted to, the more and more desperate attempts made by Hawk Moth to snatch the Miraculous. It really made her realize just how much they had been through together, and how much she had willfully ignored his unwavering support and presence for so long.

Before she knew it, they had wandered downstairs and were standing by the lockers at the end of their unofficial tour, and Chat was chuckling to himself about some of the jokes he had made in the past, and she said, somewhat without thinking, “It's kind of weird, how I miss this place and don't miss it at the same time.”

Chat tipped his head to one side in curiosity. “What do you mean?”

She shrugged. “Just…this used to be such a big part of our lives—of my life—and now I'm standing here and I could tell you exactly which locker used to be mine, but if I opened it now it would have some other girl's stuff in it, some other kid who's still learning who she is and where she wants to go in life, and it's not mine anymore, not really, but it still feels like mine because it used to be. You know?” To hell if he knew she used to go to François Dupont. There were plenty of alumni, it wasn't like he would be able to identify her with that information anymore like he could have back when she went here. “And this school used to be a hub for akumas every time we so much as blinked but now it's not, and it feels weird coming here to fight one and seeing them go after new kids who remind me of my old class but aren't the same at all.”

“Wait, you—” Chat was staring at her now, one finger pointing at her, like she had just announced she was secretly the president of France. “You used to go here?”

She blinked. What was the big deal about that? “Um…yeah?”

He was still staring, and if his eyes got any bigger Ladybug was pretty sure they were just going to pop straight out of his skull. “I used to go here too.”

Ohhh no.

Now it was Ladybug's turn to stare, more in horror than in shock. She'd messed up. She'd messed up big time.

She knew what was coming now.

Sure enough, the next thing out of Chat's mouth was “when did you go here? We could have been right next to each other in school the whole time!”

She waved a hand vaguely. “Um, you know…a few years ago…it's been a while…”

“Really? I started attending about f—” He was cut off as Ladybug slapped her hands over his mouth. He looked down at her with a perplexed, reproachful expression.

“Secret identities, kitten,” she reminded him, refusing to meet his eyes and instead fixing her gaze on his bell. “I used to go here, that's all you need to know. Please don't try to get me to tell you any more.”

He sighed and moved her hands away from his mouth. “All right,” he said, “I won't ask. I won't tell you when I attended here, either. We can just talk.” His cat ears were drooping, though, and she knew that some part of him was still horribly disappointed.

She kissed him, the only form of apology she could think of that wouldn't fall entirely flat. “Thank you.”

Chat traced her cheek with one finger. “Anything for you, my lady.” He leaned in to kiss her back. “You know, it's almost a shame we don't both go to François Dupont anymore.”

“Oh?” She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, tangling her fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck. “Why's that?”

“We could have had romantic rendezvous right here,” he replied in an exaggeratedly seductive voice, making her giggle. “Just think about it. Making terrible excuses to our teachers, sneaking down here, kissing by the lockers…”

“We'd get caught pretty fast,” she pointed out. She touched her forehead to his, and he shrugged off her comment with a dismissive wave.

“We wouldn't get caught if we were careful,” he said. “Here, let me demonstrate.” He scooped her up in his arms to carry her towards one of the rows of lockers. When she was flush against the locker doors, he pulled the one next to them open, effectively hiding them from view of anyone looking in. “Just like this, see? And we could kiss until the bell rang.”

She smiled at the self-satisfied look on his face. “Clever kitty. But you know, I think I like our nighttime rendezvous on the rooftops better. Less risky.”

“You're just saying that because we've never kissed somewhere we could get caught.”

She shrugged playfully. “What can I say? I like my safety.”

“No, you don't. You took a flying leap off the school roof today to get at Teacher's Pet.”

“Akumas are different.”

“Right. Because you're used to them.” He leaned in, until their lips were almost touching. “You're used to taking risks with them. Take a risk on a kiss for once. You might like it.”

And for a minute, as Chat Noir kissed her and she was pinned harder and harder against the locker behind her and she threaded her fingers through his hair and forgot the sound of her own name, she almost felt like she was fifteen, hiding and making out behind the lockers with the only boy she'd ever really loved and hoping that Principal Damocles wouldn't see them.

And she liked it.

 


End file.
